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Taiwan claims US Navy is sabotaging SSK plans
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| 10 February 2006 |
By Wendell Minnick JDW Correspondents
Taipei
Taiwan (Republic of China) has accused the US Navy of intentionally sabotaging the sale of eight diesel-electric submarines that the Bush administration promised it in April 2001.
A US source close to the programme has confirmed Taiwanese claims and argues that the US Navy feared a revival of a domestic diesel-electric submarine programme that would challenge its traditional use of nuclear-powered submarines.
"The bottom line is that the initiation of a Taiwan submarine programme has tremendous implications for the US Navy - once it gets going, they will not be able to resist the already existing pressure to integrate diesels with AIP [air-independent propulsion] into the navy inventory for littoral warfare. So they have been artful in making it seem like they have supported the president's policy; yet purposely making it such a bitter pill to swallow - what I call 'death by bureaucracy'," stated the source.
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